Now, I’m not afraid to say that I’m new at this style of photography. When I was in my late teens to early twenties my primary camera was firstly an Agfa Billy, then an Olympus OM2 and I burned through a lot of my weekly pay check on film to support my hobby. I remember picking up the two to three rolls of processed film from the photo kiosk in my local shopping centre, rushing home to check them out and and and proudly showing my parents, friends, and whoever else would look, endless shots of trees, cars, our cats and whatever else I thought would make a good image.

Eventually, I suppose, I got tired of shooting the same style of image and my attention drifted to other interests.

Now, some 20 years later with amazing developments in technology, I’ve armed myself with an iPhone 6+ and have jumped in feet first and have rekindled my passion for photography. After all these years I’m now shooting work that I’m proud of and am fortunate to have found a market for. I’m back to shooting a lot of images and love having the ability to post process on my phone and to be able to consign my duds to the trash bin.

This series of work represents my first real foray into street photography, an area I thought I’d explore after reading an article on Eyeem about the noted street photographer Saul Leiter

One of the projects that I’ve been putting a lot of time into recently is a book on pushing the boundaries on router trammel work so you can create pieces such as the Septafoil frame shown below.

(Please keep in mind the frame in the photo is a draft piece cut out of a 25mm thick MDF sheet and was created to test the process i’ve developed. The next one will be in hardwood)

The frame is trammel routed using the Festool MFS routing template long with my trusty Festool OF1010 router.

Frames like this are an exercise in geometry and begin as a design on my sketchpad which is where I create the form, and work out the angles and measurements so I can transfer them to my full size panel.

A couple of months ago I discovered the General Digital sliding T bevel and since then my design work has moved forward in leaps and bounds.

I use the general to set angles in sketches, to assess how a variation in angle changes the structure I’m developing and when I’m happy with a design, to quickly and accurately transfer the design onto a panel.

Please take the time to watch the video here which shows more applications for this awesome tool.

The General has four buttons next to the digital display which you use to operate the tool.

They are;

Power, the red one.

Zero, to zero the tool for use

Hold Flip, which either lock the current measurement on the display or flips the display so you don’t have to look at it upside down.

Reverse, Which changes the display from an reflex angle , (between 180 and 360 degrees) to a an acute angle.

All in all this is one of the most useful tools I’ve come across recently and I am certain you’ll find it a worth addition to your toolbox.

Recently released in Europe Festool’s new sanders the ETS EC 150/5 and ETS 150/3 are sure to be a hit when they reach the Australian market. With the latest in EC brushless motors these sanders have a host of new features to make the onerous task of sanding quicker and easier.

Some of the new features are a vibration sensor which automatically adjusts the sander speed when not under load to protect the user from excess vibration, constant speed under load, and a suction detection system which stops the sander if the dust extractor hose comes out, (this feature can be deactivated if you’re using a dust bag).

The new sanders have a height of 113mm including pad, compared to 185mm on the old ETS sanders and a weight of 1.2 kg which is 600 grams lighter than the old ETS sanders

Have a look at the video below to see the ETS EC 150 in action and watch for a cameo appearance by Blair, one of the principals of Festool Australia

Please watch this space and as more information comes to hand I’ll post it here

Sadly, I had a death in the tool box last week. after one too many drops, my old moisture meter finally gave up.

So after a suitable period of mourning, (about 12 seconds) I decided to update to to the new Profi scale moisture meters by Burg Wachter that arrived in the shop last week.

Whats cool about these meters is that as well as measuring the moisture level of wood you can quickly change the settings so you can measure the moisture content of plasterboard, (drywall) screed and gypsum as well as ambient temperature in Celsius and Fahrenheit.

When I use a moisture meter I’ll always take a number of readings from different points on the timber then work out an average. The meter was simple to use and when I measured the same point in the
timber 4 times I got the same read every time, ( unlike my old meter)

Also in the manual is this handy table which give you a rough idea of how to interpret the data from the meter.

Please keep in mind when using this scale that it’s only a general idea. Moisture content varies between species and where you are in the world. Remember to take multiple readings and work out an average.

What I also love about this meter is the size, (See photo below), and the price.

At under $40.00 (AUD) its an absolute bargain for all the features it has. If you’re in the market for a new meter have a look here.

Another new tool to the Festool cordless line up is the new BHC 18 rotary hammer drill. This 2 mode rotary teams a festool brushless motor, with a 4.2ah battery which produces 1.8 Joule of power and has the capacity to drill 18mm in concrete, 13mm in steel and 25mm in wood.

The first video is from Festool and even though it’s in German, it’s one of the first videos i’ve seen that clearly shows the piston and hammer action which gives the rotary hammer drill its power. Try to pause the video at about the 33 second mark to get a good look at the guts of the tool.

Also worth noting is the anti vibration system which is essential for continual and safe use of this style of tool.

The next video is from Peter Parfitt’s New Brit Workshop and gives a really good overview of the tool including demonstrating the interconnect ability of the BHC 18v batteries with the 15.6 batteries from the standard Festool range. Make sure you pause the video around the 10min 40 second mark so you can have a look at new dust adapter which fits on a standard Festool hose and will give you dust free drilling for rotary hammer drilling for holes up to 12mm in diameter

I haven’t got a firm release date for this yet but anticipate it being released around August 1 to coincide with the release of the TSC 55.

I’ve had a couple of days off work with a rotten dose of the Flu and now that my brain is beginning to work again I’ve had a chance to trawl the web to come up with any info I could find on the new Festool products that will potentially be hitting our shores this year.

The Vecturo OS 400.

From discussions I have had with both Festool (Aust) and Fein (Aust) I can now confirm that the Vecturo is a joint venture between Festool and Fein and is a Fein Supercut that has been “Festoolized”.

Have a look at the video below that’s presented by Frank Jaksch, from Festool Germany for a good overview of the tool and make sure that you pay particular attention to the depth stop accessory and the positioning aid that are shown in the video. The positioning aid looks particularly interesting to me as it looks to solve the challenge of getting a square plunge cut which is a problem with any oscillating tool.

I’ll be interested to see how Festool market the Vecturo in Australia as any Fein stockist will confirm that the Fein Supercut is a bloody hard tool to sell owing to the price and the requirement for different blades. ( The Supercut can use multimaster blades with an adapter)

As yet there is no firm release date for the Vecturo in Australia but given that it has not hit Festool UK yet I think that it’s fairly certain that we wont see it here till the first quarter of 2015.

Anyway, thats all I have on the Vecturo. As more information comes to hand I’ll post it here.